A thirteenth-century poet in France once wrote this pastoral poem:
At dawn, old Fayel gazed upon his wheat and land. The tender green of the shoots and the gold of the ears were so soothing and pleasant; the beautiful crops would yield the beautiful clinking of écus.
After the harvest came the annual time for collecting rents and taxes.
Napoleon was so beloved by the peasants because he promised not to restore feudalism or the tithe. Naturally, he could not collect rent taxes in kind from the peasants, a system of taxation dating back to before the Middle Ages.
After harvesting, the peasants would haul their grain to market to sell, while tax collectors watched the coins in their hands like hawks.
Peasants in the Carolingian era had to pay vast amounts of food to their lords, though not all food went into storage, especially perishables. Before the end of the Middle Ages, peasants stopped paying in kind and paid money instead. Unless tax collectors clearly explained what paying taxes in goods actually meant, the peasants would not pay.
If it was changed to "requisition," that was another matter. The years before 1801 had been good, with abundant harvests every year, leaving peasants with considerable grain stores. But poor roads prevented grain from some regions from being shipped out. Over time, it became old wheat, unable to fetch a high price at market.
In theory, grain should not have been exported while the country was suffering famine. Yet every region had its own particular reasons. Exporting grain brought back gold and silver coins; humanity could hardly return to the age of barter.
But that was now forbidden. Napoleon did not have the Legislative Body amend the law to ban it; he simply had the police arrest them.
William Pitt the